RE: Question 1: Attracting and Retaining Teachers for underserved students

I agree with Stephen Young that administrative support is key, and that includes counseling services, for students and for teachers. In schools where the counseling staff is large enough to accommodate the student population, and sees their job as not just bureaucratic (filling out forms, doing assessments) but supportive, the gratitude of the teachers is obvious. I worked in a "low-performing" elementary school in Los Angeles where, in a school of 1200 kids from a local housing project, their was little turnover and great pride among the staff and parents. This was mostly engendered by the principal, and the leadership among the teachers, who loved the school, and saw their responsibility to help new teachers help the kids. As soon as the principal was removed by the district, the whole culture of the school changed, and the staff began to leave in droves...